Pay Benchmarking

Do you feel uncertain about whether your pay is truly competitive, or whether you are paying more than you need to for certain roles, teams or locations?

Reward Heads is a Reward Consultancy independent of all data providers. We benchmark salaries and pay ranges against the market so you can see where you lead, match or lag, compared to where you want to be, and decide what to do about it, typically before your annual pay review.

What pay benchmarking is

Pay benchmarking gives you an external reality check on how your pay levels compare with the market. The aim is not to chase the market average. It is to decide, role by role, where you want to be, and to have evidence for that decision.

Reward Heads can help you identify the right data source and best comparator groups, interpret the data in context, and understand where your organisation is leading, matching, or lagging behind. That matters because market data on its own is rarely enough; the real value comes from knowing what risks the wider market poses to your organisation, whether your people in critical roles are exposed to being poached, where scarcity is affecting recruitment, and where pay pressure is likely to build over time, and all within the context of your Reward Principles. Our article, Levelling and Benchmarking: The Core of Reward?, explores this in more detail.

A common concern is relying on outdated surveys, inconsistent job matching, or broad averages that do not reflect your actual talent market. Reward Heads can help cut through that noise and help you make sense of the numbers, enabling you to take practical action. That might mean adjusting pay for specific roles, refining your approach for hard-to-fill positions, or deciding where your current position is already strong enough.

How our pay benchmarking works

1. Scope. We agree which roles to benchmark (if not all), your best data source and your reward principles.
2. Job matching. We match each of your roles to market roles on content and level, not job title alone. Poor job matching is the most common reason benchmarking misleads.
3. Data. We use the most appropriate data surveys for you. We check that data is current and relevant to your size, sector and location.
4. Analysis. We report each role against the market dependent on your principles, so that may be lower quartile, median, upper quartile and show the position of each individual compared to the agreed benchmark.
5. Recommendations. We turn the findings into practical choices: which roles to adjust, which hard-to-fill roles need a different approach, and where being slightly behind market is acceptable, what to tackle first if the bill is too much all at once.
6. Report and handover. You get a clear report you can take to your Board, remuneration committee or Trustees in line with your timescale and deadlines.

What you get

• Role-by-role market comparison with your position clearly shown
• A summary of where you are exposed to turnover or recruitment risk
• Recommended actions, with indicative cost impact
• Input into pay bands and ranges if you want the benchmarking to feed a new pay structure or grading framework

Frequently asked questions

How does pay benchmarking work?

We agree whether you want to benchmark all roles or select the roles that matter most, then match each to comparable market roles, compare your pay with market data and report your position against the median and quartiles. You then decide which gaps to close.

How accurate is pay benchmarking?

It is only as accurate as the job matching and the data behind it. We match on role scope and size, use the most appropriate data sources, and explain the limits of the data in the report.

Can you benchmark just a few roles, or a single senior role?

Yes. Our work is determined by your needs.

What information do you need from us?

Job descriptions or role profiles, current salary data, team structure and any existing grades or pay ranges and someone who knows the reality of the role. If you do not have robust job descriptions we can help you create them.

How long does it take?

This depends on the number of roles, data available such as robust job descriptions, and level of analysis required. For a single role, we can turn it around very quickly. To do 300 roles would often take 2 months, working with you to ensure consistency.

Can benchmarking support our pay equity and pay gap work?

Absolutely. Benchmarking looks at external competitiveness. We can pair it with a pay equity review so you check internal fairness and market position together.

Talk to us before your next pay review

The goal is to help you make informed choices about where you want to invest, where you can hold steady, and where you may be comfortable being slightly behind the market, provided the overall proposition still works in line with your reward principles - rather than simply chasing the market. Reward Heads can help you get the evidence to make those decisions confidently.